NEW PHOTOS: South County Police Officers Travel to Joplin

With 125 dead, 230 missing and hundreds injured in Joplin, MO as of Thursday, three officers from the South County Precinct traveled to the city to help in the tornado's aftermath. 

Sgt. Dave Ryan and Officers Jon Armbrister and Brad Hollenbeck arrived in Joplin after midnight Thursday and started at 4:30 a.m. assisting with manning checkpoints and doing roving patrols on 12-hour shifts.

"They wanted to go help," said Capt. Marion Monteleone with the South County Precinct. "Part of it is they want to help the Joplin police—they're overstretched and undermanned and the other is to help the Joplin community. They hope that if something like that happened here, they'd do the same thing."

The officers are scheduled to come back after one week and are part of a larger group of 24 patrolmen, 2 sergeants and one lieutenant from St. Louis County Police who volunteered their services in a special detail. 

Editor's Note: Patch is in contact with these officers and will be updating the site on their work and the conditions in the city. Check back frequently for updates.